Shutter Speed
18
Getting Ready
THE FIRST THING I did when I got to school Monday morning was ask Chris to the prom. Then Mr. Turner started economics class right at the stroke of 7:25 and she couldn’t answer. I suppose kids in some schools might just keep talking when class starts, but it didn’t work that way in our classes. If we were really careful, we could pass a note back and forth, but you didn’t dare try something like that with Mr. Turner.
I still remembered back when I was five, I went to school with Deborah. I forget why it was necessary for me to not be around home, but there I was, a five-year-old on the first day of school with my sister in seventh or eighth grade. South Chicago had always been a working class neighborhood, but it was still at least half white back then. What I remember most is math class with Mr. Hess. There was a big kid in the class and I honestly don’t remember if he was black or white. What I remember was that he was up and wandering around the classroom when Mr. Hess told him to sit down because class had begun. The kid didn’t sit. Mr. Hess came up beside him with a big paddle and swung it hard on the kid’s rump.
“I said to sit down. If you won’t, I’ll make it so you can’t,” Hess said. The big kid sat down and stayed there through the rest of the class.
You might think it was weird that a five-year-old could remember the incident down to the name of the teacher. It made an impression and eight years later, I had Mr. Hess for math and that paddle was still hanging behind his desk next to the blackboard.
Anyway, as soon as the bell rang, I joined Chris on the walk to Miss Kellogg’s English class.
“I remembered you said right after spring break was the right time to ask you to the prom,” I said.
“Um… No,” she answered.
“No, not the right time?” I asked.
“No, I can’t go with you. I have a date.”
“You have a…? Wow. That kind of came out of left field.”
“No, it didn’t. Not really. Ronda asked me after our big date when we did our photo session. I agreed to go with her. As a couple.”
“Oh. I was thinking we’d do what we did last year,” I said as we walked into English class.
“You have another girlfriend this year,” Christine whispered. “You need to ask her.”
I didn’t really hear much of what Miss Kellogg had to say that day. Another girlfriend. I was pretty sure Chris was not referring to Beth in Chicago. In fact, I’d already agreed to go to her prom, which wasn’t until the week after our graduation. Patricia was staying as much out of the public eye as she could and that ruled out prom. That could only mean Anna. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to take Anna. I’d just been hoping for another all night lovemaking party with Chris and Ronda.
“What if I wanted to ask someone else?” I asked petulantly as Chris and I walked to statistics. She stopped in the middle of the hall and pulled me around to look at her.
“Nate, do you mean to tell me you really don’t want to take Anna to the prom? That… I think she might be really hurt.”
“That’s not it. I just already had a bunch of stuff in mind for you and Ronda and me. It will all be different with Anna,” I said.
“Different, but not less fun,” Chris said. “Last year she went to the prom with two gay guys. I think she’d like her boyfriend to be the one this year. You’ll both have more fun.”
“Yeah. You’re right. I was being an ass. Please don’t mention this conversation to Anna.”
“That shows some smarts. When are we going to get a report on your week with Elizabeth?” Chris asked as we stepped into class and found our seat.
“You won’t believe it. I saw her Wednesday after school and that was all.”
“Why?”
“Christine, don’t you read the newspaper? Chicago was full of riots. I couldn’t just pick her up and go park somewhere. There wasn’t anywhere safe,” I said.
“I didn’t know.”
“Tell you about it at lunch.”
I didn’t tell her about it at lunch. And I didn’t ask Anna to the prom at lunch. Patricia caught me just before I got to the cafeteria and asked me to come to the office with her.
“I’ve been summoned to see the principal. You know what that means, Nate? They’re going to throw me out. I’ve been trying to hide it, but the bump is too big to keep hidden. Mrs. Ingham reported me, I’m sure. I haven’t been able to do everything in gym class. What am I going to do?” she asked as she held my hand on the way to the office in a blatant disregard for the PDA rules.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, honey. I think I have a way. I’m here with you.”
“Thank you.”
We got to the principal’s office and had to wait five minutes before Mr. Reichman could see us. It was worse. Mrs. Abernathy, the assistant principal-guidance counselor was also in the office.
“I’m sure you know what this is about Patricia,” Reichman started. “I’m surprised to see you here, Nate. Are you the father of Miss Berg’s child?”
“No, sir. I’m her friend and…”
“Well, moral support is good, but school policy is firm against allowing pregnant students in class once it becomes known that she is pregnant. You are pregnant, are you not, Patricia?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, Mrs. Abernathy has information that will help you finish your schooling if you desire to do so, but you can’t do it here. The school board has determined that unwed mothers are both a distraction and a bad influence on other girls.”
“Sir. Patricia is Mrs. Anthony Kowalski. She is not an unwed mother. Private Anthony Kowalski, known here as Tony, was a 1967 graduate of Tenbrook High School who paid the ultimate price in action on January second this year. He was laid to rest in Tenbrook Cemetery with full military honors on January twelfth. Tony died not even knowing that his young wife was pregnant. It would be the utmost of disrespect to an American hero to insist that his widow be denied her education at Tenbrook simply because she is pregnant. I am prepared with documentation and photographs to take the story to the county newspapers if this decision is carried through,” I said.
“Patricia, were you married to Tony Kowalski?” Reichman asked. He carefully ignored my other comments.
“Yes, sir. On June twenty-seventh, 1967. I will celebrate my first anniversary crying on his grave.”
Reichman looked at Mrs. Abernathy who pointedly looked away. He sighed.
“This is a matter of policy, and therefore needs to be reviewed by the school board for a decision. Therefore, I’m delaying all action on this issue until the school board has reviewed the facts and passed down a decision. Until that time, there will be no change in your status as a student in this school,” he said. “I’m not a heartless tyrant, Patricia. I know you and Tony were inseparable for his last two years here. We all grieved at the news that he was gone and now I share my condolences with you. I will suggest to the school board that reviewing this matter is a low priority.”
“Thank you, sir,” Patricia said through her tears.
“I believe,” Mrs. Abernathy said, “that you could use an extra study hall in order to be sure your studies are kept up to date. Why don’t we move you out of Physical Education and into study hall that period?”
“That would be very kind, Mrs. Abernathy. Thank you.”
We stood to go.
“Nate,” Mr. Reichman stopped me. I turned to face him. “Sometimes, simply bringing the facts to light is enough to get action. It does not always need to be accompanied by threats.”
“I’m sorry, sir. It was a very hard week and I spoke with more anger than the situation merited,” I said.
“Was there trouble this week?” he asked.
“Sir, are you not aware that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated? I was in Chicago all week patrolling neighborhoods to keep peace with members of the major gangs on the South Side. They needed some white guys with them.”
He just sat there with his mouth open and finally waved me out of the room. In the outer office, Patricia turned to hug me. It was too late to make it to lunch, so we just headed to class.
I didn’t get to see Anna until after school. By that time, news had made it to all our friends that Patricia was being allowed to stay in school.
“You did it, didn’t you?” Anna asked as soon as I asked to walk her home. “You went with her to the office at lunchtime. You convinced them to let her stay in school.”
“It didn’t really take much. They knew she was pregnant, but they didn’t know she was married to Tony. The principal has shuffled it off to the school board and told them the matter was not urgent.”
“Somehow, I can’t believe all you did was tell him they were married,” she laughed. “So how was your week in Chicago?”
“Horrid,” I said. I walked her up to her door and held her hand to prevent her from going in. “Anna, can we just sit for a minute?”
“Sure, Nate. Is something wrong?”
“I was kind of short with Chris this morning and then nearly lost my temper entirely in Principal Reichman’s office. You’re right that I didn’t just point out the facts. I threatened to take the entire story to the newspaper with documentation of their marriage, Tony’s honorable action in service, and photographs from the wedding and the funeral. I was really mad.”
“What started it all, honey?”
“They killed Dr. King. Out here, no one seems to understand what that means. According to the news this morning, a three-mile swath of Oak Grove is still on fire. Woodlawn is a mess. Mayor Daley ordered police to shoot to kill rioters. And we all sit out here in white bread Tenbrook like nothing happened. Our one colored person in our entire school was killed in fucking Vietnam and the school wanted to throw his widow out of school because she’s carrying their child.”
I was upset enough that tears were running down my cheeks. I suppose I was still suffering from sleeplessness. I’d been up working all day Friday and walked the streets all night Friday and all day Saturday until I went to the studio and developed photos for the newspaper. Then I had a short sleep and fueled an early drive back to Tenbrook for Easter service with enough coffee to keep me awake late Sunday night.
“There’s more,” she whispered.
I told her about walking the streets with people from my old school, the curfew on everyone under eighteen, the army and National Guard showing up. How we kept the South Side peaceful just by being a visible presence and talking people down who wanted to go kill whitey.
“This isn’t even what I wanted to do when I walked you home tonight,” I said.
“Oh? What did you have in mind? We can only have a little kiss here on the front porch,” she giggled.
“I wanted to ask you to the prom,” I said.
“Me? You’d take me to the prom? I thought… I mean… Yes! I’d love to be your date to the prom. I’d love to, Nate!” The little kiss on the front porch that she alluded was some serious kissing. By the time she was finished with my mouth, we were both feeling better.
“Was that a marriage proposal?” Mr. Marx asked from the doorway.
“Better!” Anna responded. “He asked me to the prom!”
“That’s… Oh… It’s… uh… dinnertime.” He turned and left us. Anna kissed me again and went inside. I felt a lot better by the time I got home.
I had a yearbook meeting on Wednesday to go over the plans for the rest of the year and what photos needed to be taken yet. I was really only there for show. Anna kept the log of all the photos and what had been turned in so far. We’d done a pretty good job of getting everything in. A couple of seniors had not yet turned in their senior photo selections. It seemed Janice was holding onto hers until Judy had hers selected and Judy’s photo session wasn’t for ten days yet. It would still make the end of April deadline, though.
“We need to show all Nate’s photos from this year, again,” Donna Reichert said.
She was this year’s yearbook editor and had been adamant about me being the senior portrait photographer. I could also personally verify that she had really nice tits and a dark brown bush that belied her blonde hair color. We’d had a very nice photo session, and she became one of the girls who fueled the rumor that I could make a girl orgasm without actually touching her. Of course, I did touch her, but I think her orgasm had more to do with her expectation than with anything I actually did.
“Isn’t there a way we can do an exhibition before the middle of summer? I know seniors who won’t be here mid-summer for the party who would really like to see the whole exhibition,” Donna continued.
“That’s an interesting idea,” Miss Sullivan said. “I’ll check with the administration to see if we can arrange an exhibit, say the last week of school, right after graduation.”
“Does it have to be only what he’s taken for the yearbook?” Anna asked. “As good as these photos are, they don’t come close to showing the range of artistry Nate has in his photography.”
“Even if we could just show what is in his studio gallery, that would be incredible,” Donna enthused. “Those prize-winners are incredible!”
“You should see some of the Attic Allure photos he’s taken this year, both at the studio here in town and at his new studio in Chicago. Did you know he was in Chicago last week taking photos during the riots?” Anna asked.
“Um… Please don’t make a big deal out of that. I was taking pictures of the peace and not the riots,” I said.
“I’m in agreement regarding the concept,” Miss Sullivan said. “I’m concerned about getting school permission for a full showing of Nate’s work. And I would hate to subject it to school censorship.”
“How about doing the show at the studio?” Grace asked. She had been a beautiful model and one of the first to come to the studio for her portrait and Attic Allure photo. “And even though you don’t have a full model release for me, I for one would give one-time special permission to display my Attic Allure photo. I think there are others who would do the same.”
“I actually work in the studio. I suppose I could hold an open house one day, but I’m set up for taking photos, not displaying them. I’m completely out of room on my gallery wall,” I said. And I was as worried about people seeing the full range of the pictures I displayed as Miss Sullivan appeared to be.
“The second floor is empty,” Anna speculated. “It would require Mr. Barkley’s permission and a hard-working cleaning crew to get it ready.”
“I’d volunteer,” Grace said.
“Me, too,” Donna added. “I’ll bet we could get most of the girls who have been to the studio to help.”
Anna leaned next to Donna and whispered to her so none of the rest of us could hear. I saw Donna’s eyes get wide.
“Oh, God, yes! Now I know I could get a crew together!”
“Nate, if you will commit to showing your work, I’ll take a committee to meet with Mr. Barkley and get his permission,” Grace said.
All I could do was nod.
Grace was a force of nature when she got things organized. It was a little funny because she was the second of my female classmates to pose for me for a senior portrait and glamour shot. The rumors that got girls started thinking they could get an orgasm with their picture hadn’t even started.
She and Donna got three other girls to go with them, including Pris and Janice, to talk to Mr. Barkley about using the second floor of the store for a gallery showing. They had to promise to do a complete cleaning of the space and move the various display shelves into a corner so I could display pictures all over the new gallery. They even promised to paint the walls if Mr. Barkley would provide paint.
My usual eight girlfriends and models were joined by ten other senior girls for the cleaning party the next day. I was told to stay out and girls would come upstairs to clean the studio, too. Okay. I had a lot of work to do to get ready for a massive showing. Miss Sullivan had said she would assist in making a catalog, but she wasn’t planning to come around while the girls were organized under their own volition.
The first time I came out of the darkroom, I saw three of my classmates mopping the floors and putting away props. One was Anna. The other two were Donna and Roxie. All three were cleaning with their bare asses up in the air. They were completely naked. When she noticed I was there, Anna jumped up to meet me.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Cleaning,” she answered innocently.
“But, they’re…”
“Just like always,” Anna said, exasperatedly. “Just say ‘Attic Allure’ and girls’ clothes start falling off. I just don’t understand what gets into these girls. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. You just can’t control them.”
During that entire little speech, Anna was planting little kisses on my lips and I was caressing her bare boobs. I even dragged a finger through her slit and tasted it in front of her.
“You need to take me out again soon,” she said. “You’ve tasted me, but I haven’t tasted you. Chris and Ronda say that’s almost the best part.”
“You mean…”
“I mean, I want to give you a blowjob. Wow! Is that specific enough? Do I need to say, I want to put your cock in my mouth and suck on you until you come and I drink down all your semen? Is that better?”
“Anna! Where’d my innocent little girlfriend go?”
“The one who stupidly wouldn’t kiss you until she was seventeen and then almost lost her chance? I think you corrupted her. And you know what? I don’t mind a bit. In fact, I’m hoping you intend to complete her corruption after prom!” she said.
I just stood and stared at her with my mouth open. She stuck her tongue in it and dragged my hand back to her breasts. I was lost.
“And,” she continued, “if those two girls don’t get kisses and touches while they’re up here, we’ll have an all-out cleaning rebellion.”
Oh, my!
Anna went back to cleaning as I attempted to get my cock shoved into a respectable position in my trousers. Not likely. I started spreading proof sheets out on the table and marking what I intended to print new for the exhibition. Miss Sullivan was coming to the studio Tuesday afternoon to go over the complete catalog, which she intended to have printed. She would want titles for everything, and I hoped my girlfriends would all join me after my session with Patricia tomorrow evening to help title them. She said something about setting prices for signed prints, as well. Wow!
There was a little tap on my shoulder and I turned directly into Roxie’s naked arms. The kiss she gave me absolutely sizzled and I had her boobs in my hands in no time. I bent down to give each of them a little suck and lick before we ever said anything.
“Um… No sex in the studio, right? I mean, if there is, you can do me right here on the table, you know.”
“No. No sex in the studio, Roxie. Haven’t you found a guy yet?”
“Well, yeah. I don’t know if we’re in it for the long haul, but Brad has really picked up on the training. He was pretty clueless when I did him a couple of years ago, but I excuse him as having only been a sophomore. The boy has learned some tricks. I promised him a wild ride after prom if he keeps treating me the way he is,” Roxie said.
“Well good. I’m glad to know your little pussy isn’t being neglected,” I laughed.
“No, but until he decides he wants to put a ring on my finger, it’s still available if you run out of girls to fuck,” she said.
“Roxie, as much fun as I had fucking you, it’s tempting. But my plate is full.”
“An all-you-can eat buffet, huh? Well, another little lick of my tits? Please?”
What could I do but lean down to her nipples and suckle on them until she finally pushed me away? Damn, she was fine.
I saw Roxie and Anna head downstairs as Donna approached me. I opened my arms and she rushed into them, lifting her lips for an immediate kiss. I obliged.
Donna was a little bustier than most girls in our school. Not overbuilt by any stretch, but she had a lot to grab onto. Which I did.
“Oh, God! Remind me again what it was like,” she said. “How did you suck on my tits? Oh, yeah! That was the way.” After a minute of sucking on her, I kissed her again. “You know, Nate, when I came for my picture… and came after my picture,” she giggled, “you did a great job on my boobs, but I kind of carried the load down below. You could help a girl out a little. You know?”
There wasn’t anything to say in answer to that. I went back to sucking on her tits and got my fingers between her legs to drag up through her abundant lubrication and circle her clit. I didn’t know how long I’d have before other girls trooped upstairs, but I figured I should make the best of this time with my editor while I had it. I think I surprised her when I lifted her up on the table, but she didn’t complain when I spread her legs and got down on my knees to feast at her honeyed opening.
I was a little afraid she was going to really scream out her orgasm, but I think she stuffed her whole fist in her mouth to muffle the sound. When I finished, there was a puddle on the floor beneath where I’d been licking, just from her juices that I couldn’t collect all of with my tongue.
“Thank God you have girlfriends,” she sighed. “I’ve really avoided making long-term commitments with boys in school. I’m even still a virgin, though you probably couldn’t tell from what you were doing. If you’d have fucked me, I’d have let you. But I’m really trying to stay out of the market until I get to college. I got accepted at UW in Madison and I can’t wait to get away from here and get started with a bigger selection of guys who actually have a future.”
“What are you going to study?” I asked as I kissed her and massaged her pussy with my fingers.
“Journalism, of course. I plan to actually make the most of my limited talents and try to find a newspaper or television job. If a husband came with it, I wouldn’t object at that point.”
“Maybe we’ll run into each other again,” I said. “I’m going to Columbia to study photography, but I expect I’ll end up making a living as a photojournalist rather than an art studio photographer. I sent a bunch of pictures to the Tribune last Saturday, but I got a ‘thanks but no thanks’ letter Wednesday.”
“Curse of the rejection slips. Glad it isn’t just writers who get them. Now… um… if you don’t plan to fuck me, you should probably take your fingers out of my pussy.”
At the time I had two fingers buried deep inside her and was seriously considering moving forward. Instead, I withdrew them and stuck them in my mouth. Donna kissed me again.
“Don’t hide. I’m sure there’s another bunch of girls who need to clean something up here.”
Including Anna, Chris, and Ronda, thirteen girls found something to do in my studio. It hadn’t shined like that since the first time we washed and waxed the floors. I was surprised at every girl who wanted a kiss and touches. Some just wanted to be fondled a little, but others wanted me to treat them to a full orgasm. I obliged each one. The one who surprised me most, though, was Libby Ganshorn—the shyest girl in our class. In two years, I’d seen her eyes only twice—both times when I was taking her picture. She pushed me toward the darkroom.
“Anna said no one had cleaned the darkroom,” she said as she entered behind me. Once again, a girl who was completely and delightfully naked.
“Well, the darkroom doesn’t really need…”
“She said you’d show me what to do. Everything.” Libby wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me with heart and soul. And lips and tongue. I needed to slow her down a little.
“What is it you really want, Libby?” I asked.
“I felt cheated when all the girls came to school bragging about their Attic Allure photos and how you excited them so much, they had orgasms. I had to go to Miss Ludwig at the library and ask her if it was true girls could have orgasms. We had a long talk and she gave me articles to read. But I still haven’t had one. Can you do that?”
“I don’t know, Libby. Sometimes the chemistry just isn’t right. If that’s what you’d like, though, I’ll do what I can.”
“Do anything you need to,” she whispered. “Anything.”
Wow! That was an invitation from the shyest girl in our class and I wasn’t about to turn her down. I had her wait just a minute and went out to get a chair from the studio. I didn’t think she wanted to be seen yet, but standing in the darkroom wasn’t the most comfortable way to make love. When I got back to the darkroom, we went back to kissing and I sat with her on my lap so I could begin to caress her.
She stiffened slightly the first time I touched her breasts, and then the heat of her kisses went up a few degrees. She fought to get my shirt off, so I let up a little and got it pulled off over my head. From that point, we might as well have been in bed. She was all over me and spread her legs wide when I got my hand between them. I carefully felt around her opening to see if I could ascertain any sign of a hymen, but my finger slid smoothly into her well-lubricated passage. She had several heart-stopping moments with little orgasms, but I could tell she was building to a big one.
I switched places with her and got down between her legs to dive into her muff. I had to part an abundance of hair in order to get my face and tongue into the slippery core. There, with two of my fingers inside her, tickling in all the right places as my tongue played Beethoven’s Fifth on her clit, Libby let go with a tremendous orgasm. I was glad we had the door to the darkroom closed and guessed the girls downstairs might still hear her.
“Oh. Oh, God! Oh!” she gasped. “It’s true. I want them. I want them all!”
I lifted her from the chair and sat her back on my lap as I continued to put little kisses on her face and lips. She soon cuddled up to me and returned my kisses with the previous level of passion. I thought she was winding up for round two. Then she slid off my lap and between my legs. She worked at my zipper and belt until my pants were open.
“You don’t need to repay me,” I said as she grasped my cock through my shorts.
“I want this,” she said. “I read what a girl should do to please a boy without actually losing her virginity. If you’d decided to take it while you were licking me, I would have been fine with that, but now I want to find out what you feel like in my mouth.”
She tugged at my pants until I lifted and she could get them down enough to have free access to my cock. She started with exploratory licks up my shaft, holding it in her hands as I quaked in her grasp.
“Nate, red light, please.”
At first, I thought she wanted me to stop, but she waved a hand toward the light switches. The red light came on when I hit the switch and I could actually see Libby as she examined my cock. Then she looked up at me and, even in the ghostly glow of red, I could see the fire in her eyes as she sucked the head of my cock into her mouth. And then she kept sucking and bobbing up and down my shaft as we held each other’s eyes. It was too much. I warned her that I was about to come and she simply slid her mouth further down my cock as the jets burst forth into her mouth.
When the last spurts had died down, Libby popped off my cock and opened her mouth to show it to me, full of my come. Then she closed her mouth and swallowed several times, opening her mouth again to show me it was empty. I pulled her up to me and kissed her deeply to show her how much I appreciated the blow job.
“I read about that in a story,” she giggled. “I hope it was okay.”
“Okay? It was spectacular. That was incredible.”
“One day, I’m going to find a boy of my very own who will want me even though I’m weird. When I find him, I’m going to give him everything he ever wants from a girl. I will do whatever he wants to do as often as he wants to do it.”
“Libby, I hope you find the man of your dreams, because I am sure you will be the girl of his. I’m so glad, you showed me your eyes. I could have fallen right into them.”
She reached over and flicked on the white light in the room and brushed back her hair so she could look straight at me. The intensity in her dark brown eyes was almost overwhelming. She stood up and looked again at my cock, which was softening after that incredible blow job. Then she looked at me and slowly turned in a circle.
“You’ve done everything but fuck me,” she whispered. “You ought to at least be able to see me.”
Then she darted in for another kiss and headed out the door. She never did clean the darkroom.
We had a ton of schoolwork starting immediately. It seemed that all the senior teachers looked at the material they had to cover and the time that was left before we graduated and decided they needed to pick up the pace. We had an Economics paper that Tucker set the due date for on the day before prom. Thanks a fucking lot.
Miss Kellogg had yet another book she wanted us to read. She started class by playing a record of a dramatic piece of music. She said it was called “Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Strauss. Then she handed out books by Friedrich Nietzsche called Thus Spoke Zarathustra. That was going to be our last book for discussion for the semester and our high school career. Thank heaven it was only 200 pages long.
And Tuesday after school, Miss Sullivan showed up at my door to talk about the catalog of my pictures. We started by surveying the space on the second floor so Miss Sullivan could verify that we did, indeed, have room for the number of photos I planned to show. She brought with her over fifty photos that I’d shot at school that were ready to be hung somehow.
That was another thing I was struggling with. Having enough mattes cut the right size to mount all the pictures I had was expensive. And then we had to figure out how to make use of the space in the giant room cum gallery. That was also going to be costly and require a few days’ work to get everything hung. I had a few over 200 photos selected for display. I was still afraid the gallery would look empty.
Every one of the girls who came to clean on Saturday had given me permission to display their chosen Attic Allure photo. They were all extremely sexy and one showed a bare breast. Libby’s. That would start some conversations.
I’d called to talk to Levi about the best way to display such a large selection of my photos. The next day I received a shipment of matte boards and mounting tape. He suggested that we build a display rack down the middle of the room rather than hanging the photos from above. He felt that if I hung the photos on fishline from the ceiling—my original idea—the movement of the swinging photos and the number of them that would be run into would detract from the display and possibly damage the photos.
There was a special stick-um we could use to attach the mattes to the freshly painted walls. Supposedly it would peel off without damaging either the matte or the wall when we were through.
Along with the organization of the prints, Miss Sullivan would work with Anna and Chris to make sure each photo had a caption and, if applicable, a story card made up for it. Many would also have a price tag. I wasn’t selling anything that was on display, but would take orders for signed prints that I would do on archival paper, mount, and sign. The title and description tag would be fastened to the back of the photo.
I had a hard time with the pricing of my photos. I knew what it cost to make prints for a client. Anna had worked with me to figure the cost of materials and the time it took me to prepare each print in each size. But we were talking about selling prints of select photos as artwork that people would display in their homes. It was hard to imagine people paying for pictures they weren’t in. Miss Sullivan was consulting.
“Nate, I’m sorry I cannot sign a special permission for one of my photos,” she said. “No one knows that I have photos in your file and I’d like to keep it that way until our agreed upon release date.”
“I understand, Yvonne. I promised no one would know about our session and I will keep that promise.”
“Perhaps we should set a time for another session,” she suggested.
That surprised me. I assumed she was just coming to have that one session as a sort of surety against what she wanted to accomplish in five years. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again in the studio.
“We can set something up under your maiden name again,” I said. “Do you know when you’d like to come in?”
“Just to be sure we have no conflicts with the school year, why don’t we set it for some time after graduation?”
I looked at my calendar. Wow! Graduation was in five and a half weeks!
“I have commitments in Chicago the first two weekends after graduation,” I said. “And I no longer work on Sundays for a while. I’ve reserved Sunday afternoons to record the progression of Patricia’s pregnancy. I could do the fifteenth of June.”
“That would work fine. This set is Patricia? What a sad story that she married and her husband was killed. Believe me, all the faculty know the story now and it was unanimous that she should remain in school. Are these the photos of her pregnancy?”
“Yes. I have only printed proofs so far. I should have the complete second trimester for the exhibit. We didn’t know she was pregnant during the first trimester.”
“I wonder if you can print the images one after another on a single sheet of paper. Do you have paper that long? It would be wonderful to actually see them right next to each other.”
“That’s a great idea. I have twenty-inch paper. I wonder how many I can print in that space.”
“Well, I’ll take my leave for now. If we have questions that arise from setting up the catalog, I’ll have Chris and Anna handle them with you. I’ll plan to come back to the studio early on June 15th.”
“I look forward to seeing you then.”
“Oh, you will. You certainly will,” she said as she left. Hmm.
Friday after school, Anna and I went to Dubuque for dinner. I’d have to say she was a little squirrely and had been all day. We wandered around the city for a while and then she pointed me to a different route out of town and across the river.
“How many girlfriends have you taken to Wisconsin?” she asked after we’d crossed the river.
“None,” I said.
“One,” she answered. “I am your very first girlfriend to have crossed the Wisconsin state line with you.”
“Hey! We’re in Wisconsin, aren’t we!”
“We turn at the next road,” she said, pointing. I slowed and made the turn.
“Is there a particular reason you wanted to come to Wisconsin?” I laughed.
“Yes! I’ve transported my boyfriend across state lines for illicit purposes,” she answered.
“Um… Technically, I think I transported you,” I said.
“Well, I certainly hope you have illicit purposes in mind!”
In about five miles, we spotted a promising turn off that looked like it went absolutely no place. As soon as I got parked, Anna got down to her illicit purposes. I hadn’t put the bed in the back, so I didn’t think she had in mind to quite go that far, but she’d kind of promised a blowjob on this date. And it was apparent that she intended us to both be naked when she gave it to me. Even without the bed in the back, we pulled the curtains and used the last seat for our play time because it had more room without the steering column and gearshift.
“I’m so glad you let me be a girlfriend again,” she said as she cuddled her naked body against mine. “All I had to do was learn how to share.”
“You do share with the other girlfriends, don’t you,” I said. “It surprises me, but I’m happy for both of us.”
“I understand why Pastor Armstrong wanted us all to promise not to kiss anyone until we found the one we wanted to spend our lives with. It does make a girl want to do more. Once I figured it out, I had to decide if there was a problem with that. And the answer is no. I had no problem with wanting to do more with you. I didn’t think I was going to spend my life with you, so don’t worry about that. But wanting to do more only interested me if it was with you. And even if you aren’t the one I will spend my life with, you may be the only one I want to do more with. It was interesting, you know, to see Kent and get an education about male erections, but it didn’t interest me enough to want to do anything with it, whether he was gay or straight. But I knew at that very moment that I wanted to see you naked and erect like that.”
“You’ve managed that,” I chuckled. She was slowly stroking my cock as she talked and I petted her breasts and butt. “I never imagined that I would ever actually see you like this,” I continued. “To actually have Anna Marx naked in my arms was something that miracles were made of.”
“That first time I kissed you, I imagined myself like this. It didn’t scare me. It made me really happy. That’s when I realized that I wanted to do everything with you. Not all at once; a little at a time like we’ve been doing. Being in the studio gave me courage. Being with Chris and Ronda and Patricia… No, it was actually being with Elizabeth that made me go a little wild and admit that I wanted it all. I want it all with you, Nate. And tonight, I want to have your cock in my mouth. I couldn’t even have said words like cock or pussy or blowjob when we met. Now, my pussy is melting because I’m about to put your cock in my mouth for a blowjob.”
She matched action to words and slid down to face my cock and begin exploring it with her mouth and tongue. I was a goner. Sweet Anna Marx was sucking my cock. It ended all too soon. I warned her, but she just kept sucking and I filled her mouth with come as fast as she could swallow it.
That was not the end of it. Not by a longshot.
As soon as I could kiss her and tell her how much I loved her, I got my face between her legs and gave her back as much as I’d been given. And then, as we loved and petted each other, we ended up in a sixty-nine and gave each other another great climax.
“Anna, I’m just so happy when I’m with you,” I said.
“Good. But this is all just getting ready. I want you to make me so ready that I can’t wait for prom to be over so we can leave and go make love,” she said.
“Is that what you really want to do?” I asked.
“Yes. I even have a plan. I’ll need to borrow the microbus sometime next week, though. I need to get it ready. Do you anticipate needing to transport anything major before prom?” she asked.
“No. I shouldn’t need to transport anything major until I’m ready to go to Chicago the week after graduation.”
“Speaking of which, you need to give me, or Chris and me, a crash course in how to take Patricia’s pictures. We’ll need to have the old 35 set up on a tripod with the scene all set so all we have to do is press the button and advance the film. We don’t want to be missing any weekly progress photos while you’re in Chicago. You’ll be gone two weekends!”
“I might get back in time for the second one, but there’s no chance I could make it back here on Sunday after Elizabeth’s prom.”
“Will you take her out in the van after her prom like I plan on you taking me?” Anna asked.
“Um… I don’t think so. Beth told me she’s making all the arrangements and reservations. All I have to do is be where she tells me to be in a tuxedo with a flower. I’m a little worried that I’m not doing enough.”
“Are you just going to keep the dinner jacket from our prom to go to hers?”
“No. She specifically told me that I needed a regular black tuxedo. No white dinner jackets. Unlike our prom, hers isn’t even held at her school. It’s held at the ballroom on Navy Pier. I won’t be driving her to the prom. Her driver will pick me up and then we’ll go to pick her up.”
“Wow! I guess that’s money for you. You could do a black tuxedo for our prom. It would be cool. You’d set a trend. But it’s also the city for you. Where other than at the school would we ever hold our prom? The golf course up in Huntertown? That’s the only place I can think of that might have as much room as a high school gym.”
“Well, there are only fifty-six in our class. Beth’s class has 1,500. City life has ups and downs.”
“I’ll say. Do you know what I’m looking forward to most?”
“It sounds like you’re looking forward to making love. And I’m looking forward to that, too.”
“Yes, that. But what I’m really looking forward to is just lying in your arms like we are now all night long. We can talk until we fall asleep and make love as often as we want and sleep as long as we want. Maybe we should plan to cut class on Monday and just stay in the bus another night,” she suggested.
“Wow. You’ve got a lot of ideas. You know what I remember about the first time we met?”
“You remember the first time we met?”
“Well, yeah. I asked you out. We were doing introductions in Miss Kellogg’s speech class and when you introduced me you said I liked all the things you liked. Listening to you planning our prom date makes me think, ‘Yeah. Still true.’ Planning and getting ready is almost as much fun as actually doing it.”
“I love you, Nate. I don’t think I’ve really ever told you that, but I do. I think the world of you and I love you.”
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
